Second chances in Saly: Egypt, USA and Austria lead the way into the Beach Sprints knockouts

For the crews who missed out on Day 1, Sunday’s second Time Trial was a last chance to reach the knockouts, and several took it. Beach Sprints, set to make their Olympic debut at LA28, moved from the clock to head-to-head racing on Day 2 of the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games.

The Atlantic swell that shaped Saturday’s racing eased on Day 2, leaving the Senegalese sun as the main challenge across a longer programme. Competitors who finished outside the top eight on Day 1 returned to race the Saly Beach West course to try and earn their spots in the race for discipline’s first Youth Olympic Games medals.

Mixed Double Sculls Time Trial 2

With Germany, China, Spain, Czechia, Ukraine, France, Tunisia and Austria already through from their top-eight times in Time Trial 1, ten crews raced for the remaining eight Last 16 places in the morning’s opening session.

Moursi and Ali set the fastest time (2:26.51), ahead of the United States’ Isaac Moos and Allison Grove and Australia’s Alexander Watt and Camila Griffin. Crews from Türkiye, Great Britain, Italy, Mexico and Thailand took the other five places.

The United States nearly lost its chance early when Moos broke an oar during the paddle out through the buoys. The crew applied for a challenge and was granted a re-row, held immediately after the original start list.

Moos said Grove and him never lost their cool in the moment. “It’s surreal to be here. It’s hard to process, it’s not like anything else. But Senegal is super cool.

“The atmosphere at this sport is very different from other rowing. Everyone helps each other out, everyone is friends.”

Men’s Solo Time Trial 2

Austria’s Lukas Schoenhuber, who missed automatic qualification on Day 1, topped the session in 2:30.44. China’s Su Juntao (2:30.95) and Ukraine’s Mykola Tomchai (2:31.30) completed the top three. Ondřej Žižka of Czechia, Justas Domarkas of Lithuania, Zihni Alatas of Türkiye, Enrique Morelos of Mexico and Raphaël de Boussac of France also advanced to the Last 16.

“It was a much better performance than yesterday,” said Schoenhuber. “Today I gave so much.”

The effort showed.

“I am dead. The heat is so crazy, horrible. I couldn’t walk,” said Schoenhuber, who added: “At home in Austria, it is minus five degrees at the moment. I would normally be skiing at this time.”

These elite eight will meet the eight Solo Mens athletes that qualified during Day 1 in the Last 16. These are: Iason Mouselimis of Greece, Yussuf Moursi of Egypt, Davide Gazzola of Italy, Callum Dreyer of Australia, Johann Felix Meyer of Germany, Diego Molina of Spain, Steven Runin of Estonia, and Adam Moor of Hungary.

Women’s Solo Time Trial 2

Grove, fresh off qualifying in the Mixed Doubles, was fastest in the Women’s Solo in 2:57.88, with Ali following in 2:59.29, and Austria’s Alena Lux next in 3:00.05. Also through to the Last 16 in the Women’s Solo were Viktoriia Radchenko of Ukraine, Saaga Hakala of Finland, Thatchaporn Phengsawang of Thailand, Elise Guilloton of France and Kate Dunne of Ireland.

The next challenge for these eight qualifiers comes tomorrow, when the first fastest eight are back in action for the Last 16. These athletes are: Tanya Brendle of Switzerland, Lili Liu of China, Blanca Lopez of Spain, Marie Zavadilova of Czechia, Camilla Griffin of Australia, Lexi Gill of Great Britain, Elif Ozdemir of Turkiye, and Carolina Guerra Gonzalez of Germany.

Ali and Grove each qualified in two events this morning.

Head-to-Head Racing Begins | Last 16 for the Mixed Double Sculls

Top-seeded Germany continued their dominant display in the Mixed Double Sculls, with Johann Felix Meyer and Carolina Guerra Gonzalez posting the fastest time of the day, 2:13.42, to beat Thailand in the Last 16 on Monday, 2 November.

Second-seeded China looked smooth and commanding in beating Mexico in 2:16.57. Su Juntao and Liu Lili won the U19 world title in this boat class on home waters in Qingdao on 20 October, and look set to figure prominently in the Last 8.

Spain beat Italy, 2:17.91 to 2:19.46. “We controlled our rhythm from the start and we got a good result, said Spain’s Molina. “It is good to be into the head-to-head. With the time trials there is no other boat to see and race. This is more interesting. We are aiming for the gold. We think we can do it. It would be incredible to win a medal.”

Czechia beat Great Britain in 2:16.34, the second-fastest winning time of the day, as Czechia became the first Mixed Doubles team to reach the Last 8 from Time Trial 2.“It was more difficult than I’d imagined, but I like the head-to-head way more than the time trials. I don’t like them, said Czechia’s Zavadilova. “I can’t help looking at the other boat. We are happy. It was a good result.”

The ‘looks’ didn’t go unnoticed by Zavadilova’s racing partner, Zizka. “I saw Maria all the way looking at the other boat; I was saying to her, ‘don’t look’.”

Ukraine got open water on Turkiye in their Knockout race, posting a 2:18.38. Close around the final buoy and into the row to shore, Turkiye had an oar malfunction and finished in 2:43.85.

France opened an early lead on the way out through the buoys and held on to beat Australia in 2:19.41. The United States booked its place in the Last 8 with a 2:18.73 win over Tunisia.

Austria advanced in one of the day’s most hotly contested head-to-head races, beating Egypt 2:19.26 to 2:21.32 to conclude Day 2.

The Last 8 are Germany, China, Spain, Czechia, Ukraine, France, the United States, and Austria.